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Aviation History
1939
1939 - 1236.PDF
MM APRIL 27, 1939 FLIGHT. TOWARDS 100 per Cent. REGULARITY Some Suggested Equipment and Methods for Airline Operation in Poor Visibility By FRANK BRENT (~)UR contributor is a commercial pilot of con siderable experience. He has for some time been flying on Wrightways' London-Paris freight services, the schedule of which is such that much bad visibility—particularly early morning fog—is encountered, and opportunity for practical experi ment is plentiful. He has expressed to us great appreciation of his company's willingness not only to provide its pilots with any available instrument or radio equipment, but to afford ample facilities for practice and experiment—no small matter for an unsubsidised company. Wrightways, incidentally, won last year's G.A.P.A.N. Reliability Trophy for regular commercial operation. IT is an accepted fact that regular airline operation in Europe necessitates a great deal of flying in conditions of very bad visibility, and to this end a ground organisa tion of considerable complexity has been built up. Whilst this is still capable of improvement, it is now possible, pro vided that suitable machines fitted with the necessary equipment are used, to operate regularly in the daytime in visibility down to something of the order of 200-300 metres for landings and very much less for departures. It must be conceded that this is no mean achievement when the working speeds are considered. Departures in almost zero visibility are possible and prac ticable, but completely blind landings will probably remain in the experimental stage for some time yet—until, in fact, machines with very much lower landing speeds are in use. At the moment, therefore, it will be more profitable to con centrate efforts on improving available methods and equip ment to secure easier and more reliable operation up to, but not beyond, the present possible standards of minimum working visibilities. To this end a detailed survey of cur rent piloting practice, together with a few suggestions regarding equipment, should prove of value. No claim is made that any system or method described is the only one that can be used, since it must clearly be recognised that flying, as a science, is developing very rapidly indeed— much more so than was the case, for example, with marine transport—and the need for an open mind towards all its aspects is all-important. For all-weather airline operation, and to secure the maximum benefit from the ground organisation provided, there are certain aircraft and equipment requirements which must be met, and the time is long overdue for an abandonment of the attitude only too common in this country on the part of both builders and operators that as long as an aeroplane can be flown from A to B and is fitted with the barest minimum of radio and instrument equip ment all is well. The aircraft should be easy to fly with no more than normal physical effort, be stable about all axes, particu larly fore and aft, and should not be subject to large change of trim with varying amounts of throttle. As low a landing speed as possible is desirable, and any flaps fitted to attain this should be arranged so that they can be fully applied during the last stages of a blind approach without adversely affecting the subsequent take-off and climb characteristics should a landing not be made. If the use of full flaps pre vents the attainment of maximum climb, unless they can be instantly withdrawn without loss of lift (this is possible only with purely air-brake flaps) in the event of an unsuc cessful approach, the anomalous position arises in which, because the pilot dare not use full flaps during a blind approach in case he has to go round again, the aeroplane has for all practical purposes a higher landing speed in fog than in clear. With flaps applied, undercarriage down, and airscrews in fine pitch, the aeroplane should have its normal flying characteristics so far as these can be attained in that con dition, and should be completely controllable with control column, rudder and throttles only. Means should be pro vided to give the pilot at least some measure of direct, draughtless forward vision—not through glass. The im portance of quick, easy and certain communication between the members of the crew cannot be overestimated ; and for this reason the cockpit should be soundproofed so that normal speech can be heard (incidentally, this would go a long way towards eliminating " noise fatigue "). The radio operator is best seated beside the pilot in one-pilot machines and behind the co-pilot, on the same level, in two-pilot machines. Complete duplicate flying instruments should be fitted in two-pilot aircraft, and in any case there should be two directional gyros and two sensitive altimeters. The " standard altimeter " found on British machines is just so much junk and can be omitted. These instruments.
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